Keyvan Samimi, political and civil activist, temporarily released from prison

Keyvan Samimi's lawyer announced on Tuesday evening that his client had been temporarily released from prison "based on the forensic medical report on his physical condition."

Mustafa Nili wrote on Twitter: "Given the forensic medical report on Mr. Keyvan Samimi's physical condition, by order of the prosecutor and based on Article 522 of the Criminal Procedure Code, his sentence was suspended and he was temporarily released from prison."

This political and civil activist, who was recently exiled from Evin Prison to Semnan Prison, described in a letter from prison the story of his transfer from Evin Prison and wrote that prison officials caused him "great psychological and emotional pressure" through deception and lies and are probably pursuing a "project to wear him down and even gradually kill him."

This 73-year-old civil activist, who spent one day in Karaj Central Prison before being transferred to Semnan Prison, wrote that this prison contains "dirty and stressful detention centers" that have minimal sanitary facilities.

According to Mr. Samimi, whose letter was published on February 1, this prison holds up to three times the capacity of the hall, and the poor condition of the toilets, the 10-minute limit for bathing, and the lack of facilities cause prisoners to regularly fight with each other.

Keyvan Samimi, editor-in-chief of Iran Farda magazine and a member of the Iranian Writers' Association, was transferred to Evin Prison to serve his two-year sentence in December last year, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in Iran.

According to a report by the Iranian Writers' Association, in recent days, after Keyvan Samimi called the incident a "premeditated murder" in a letter about the death of Bektash Abtin, another member of the Writers' Association, the Evin Prison authorities decided to deport him.

Bektash Abtin, a member of the Writers' Association who had been sentenced to prison on security charges, finally died on January 8 at Tehran's Sasan Hospital after contracting COVID-19 twice in prison and delays in his treatment, sparking a wave of protests against the Iranian government.

It was previously reported that prison officials forcibly and violently took Keyvan Samimi out of Evin Prison with the intention of deporting him to a prison in Alborz Province, but the Karaj District Attorney refused to accept him into the Alborz Province prisons, and Mr. Samimi spent one day in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and then was taken to Semnan Prison.

In part of his writing, he compared the prison situation with the overall situation in the Islamic Republic, writing that "the country has become a khan's kingdom, and each official speaks his own words and considers his own interests. The framework of affairs has collapsed," and "these loose spider webs will collapse with a few blows."

The charge against Mr. Samimi, which led to the prison sentence, was "gathering and colluding with the intention of acting against national security," which was related to the civil activist's presence at the International Workers' Day protest rally in front of the parliament building in May 2019.

Source: Radio Farda